Kids had gone out to play marbles, cricket

After a day of rain and cold, the sun finally shone. Several families of the Dallupura village, mostly labourers, directed their children to play outside.

After a day of rain and cold, the sun finally shone. Several families of the Dallupura village, mostly labourers, directed their children to play outside. "They were making too much noise," one of the men said. Nearly a dozen kids rushed out to play marbles and cricket. But five never returned home.

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A wall, claimed to be anywhere between 10-18 feet, fell on top of them and killed five.

A few hours later, all one could hear were the shrieks of women. An inconsolable Shamli Haldar clutched at her hair and blabbered about her youngest son Amit. Husband Satish, a rickshaw-puller, looked visibly tired even as he narrated how he had complained to the contractor just a day before about a crack in the wall, which looked dangerous.

His neighbour Mithilesh Kumari shared his sense of loss. She lost two of her four children in the mishap — seven-year-old Ankit and four-year-old Baby.

Manoj and Sangeeta too looked inconsolable. They had lost their only daughter Kanchan, aged seven. Neither of her parents were home at that time. Father Manoj, a rickshaw driver was at Vasundhara Enclave while mother Sangeeta, a maid in the housing societies, was away at work.

The five children have been identified as Aditya, 2, Ankit, 6, and his sister Baby, 4, Amit, 7 and Kanchan, 7. Aditya's sister Saraswati, 4, sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment.